Francis Schaeffer Cox was almost famous by the time state and federal authorities took him into custody in Alaska.

The functioning leader of an Alaskan militia and a sovereign citizen “assembly post,” the 27-year-old Fairbanks-area man was a rising star in extreme anti-government circles.

At gatherings in Alaska and the lower 48, Cox suggested that a violent revolution might be near and offered up his version of the sovereign citizen philosophy, an anti-government ideology drawn from conspiracy theories and largely rejecting the legitimacy of state and federal government. That ideology is believed by some watchers of the radical fringe to itself be ascendant.

Prosecutors in Alaska claim Cox and several others were plotting to kill a state judge and trooper who ran afoul of the organization.

Apparently armed with audio and video captured by a pair of informants, federal agents claim to have seized a host of weapons – including several grenade launchers, silenced pistols and a machine gun – as well as attack plans. Charges were filed against Cox in state and federal court following the March 10 raid, and the prosecutions continue.

Investigators now claim that not long after his arrest, Cox was cleared of all charges by an ad hoc jury of fellow believers in Washington. Since then, several members of the Washington group have landed in federal detention on unrelated charges. IRS criminal investigators and others continue a probe into an extreme anti-government movement in the state sometimes called the Sovereign Assemblies.

Four Washington residents linked to the movement are currently facing federal charges for tax crimes, gun possession and threatening public officials. The allegations against Cox and five other Alaskans, however, are more serious.

Offering claims hotly contested by the defense, federal prosecutors say Cox and his co-defendants were preparing for war with the government. More concretely, they’re charged with preparing to kill a state judge and Alaska state trooper, and alleged to have been acquiring weapons to do so.

Defense attorneys for several of the Alaska defendants have claimed the prosecution is essentially motivated by their clients’ views, not their actions.

“This is a really a First Amendment case,” said Tim Dooley, an Anchorage attorney representing one of the other men charged in the case.

“These fellows have been labeled as ‘right wing militia.’ That often carries bad connotations,” Dooley said by e-mail earlier this month. “These fellows have no racist views. Don't want any theocracy. … (They are) a decent bunch of guys.”

‘We’re just still building’

The FBI investigation into Cox was launched in February 2010, eight months before he and others are alleged to have started planning to assassinate judges and public servants.

Cox, a former candidate for the Alaska House of Representatives, has been tied to several fringe groups as well as mainstream conservative and gun rights organizations, including the Fairbanks Second Amendment Task Force.

Writing in court documents, an FBI special agent described Cox as the head of the Alaska Peacemaker Militia and leader of the “assembly post” there. He has also been described as a founding member of the “Liberty Bell” network, an organization whose members respond – in person it seems – when other members claim they’re being mistreated by police.

The February 2010 incident that piqued federal interest in him appears to have been a speech by Cox during which he made comments regarding a future violent overthrow of the U.S. government. The following month, Cox gave a lengthy speech while traveling in Montana outlining the purported accomplishments of the Alaska sovereign citizens group Cox led.

Addressing the crowd, Cox was poised and charismatic, cracking jokes as he railed against perceived government intrusion into the lives of Americans.

Asserting that his organization has a 3,500-person militia, Cox told the crowd of Montana conservatives he created a “common law” court that was resolving disputes and trying criminal defendants in Alaska, operating outside government purview.

Cox went on to endorse vigilante justice, and the enslavement or execution of anyone convicted of murder by the courts he and others created.

“All these concepts are right out of the Old Testament. That’s where it comes from,” Cox said.

“We haven’t ventured into that,” he continued. “We’re just still building, still building, you know. And I hope those don’t come too quick but they might show up sooner than we like.”

Cox claimed to have helped create a separate government structure, including a force armed with “rocket launchers and grenade launchers and claymore (mines) and machine guns.”

“It is their collective belief that at some undetermined point in the future they will have to take up arms against the government … or lead a revolution against the government by force of arms,” an FBI agent assigned to the Anchorage joint terrorism task force said in an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court there.

Video of the speech is now a mainstay on militia and sovereign citizen websites, including one apparently hosted by Washington assemblies member Raymond Jarlik Bell.

Feds: Guns, grenades were part of assassination plot

On March 17, 2010, Cox was called by a member of the “Liberty Bell” network to intervene after Fairbanks police and a resident had a disagreement. Cox failed to tell police he had a concealed pistol, and was charged with violating state law.

Months later, the Alaska Assembly Post held a “common law” court in Fairbanks that acquitted Cox of the state charge as well as a reckless endangerment charge to which Cox had previously pleaded guilty in an actual court.

As his trial date approached, federal prosecutors claim Cox held a meeting with 37-year-old Fairbanks-area resident Coleman Barney and other purported members of the “command staff” of the militia. Cox failed to show up in court of Feb. 14, and a warrant was issued by Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy.

According to allegations made in the federal case, Cox in early February asked co-defendant Lonnie Vernon and a man who turned out to be an FBI informant to go to a militia convention. There, they were to gather as many hand grenades as they could, as well as military grade explosives.

Federal prosecutors contend Vernon, a 56-year-old Salcha, Alaska, resident, attempted to buy grenade bodies and fuses, which were to be used to build functioning grenades, as well as firearms and a silenced pistol.

Writing the court, the Anchorage FBI agent suggested Vernon intended to use the weapons against a federal judge overseeing an ongoing IRS case against him.

Vernon and his wife owe about $118,000 in back income taxes and were facing a lien on their home, according to court documents. Investigators say Vernon was prepared to kill the judge, the judge’s family and an IRS investigator.

Vernon “said that every day of his life the judge would be looking for that silencer to hit him in the back of his head,” the Anchorage FBI agent said.

The judge, Vernon allegedly said, was “trying to play God over him and his family.”

‘2-4-1’

Describing a meeting held in February, investigators claim Cox suggested the “2-4-1” doctrine, in which two police officers, officials or judges would be kidnapped or killed for every militia member apprehended. Cox allegedly said he’d gathered a list of state prosecutors living in or around Fairbanks and planned to kill a state judge.

“Cox stated that he had the legal and the moral authority to act in this manner to keep people from committing a felony against him, but also said he was not ready to act just yet,” the FBI agent told the court.

Later, the agent continued, Cox told the informant he planned to “wage guerilla warfare” in Alaska once his family had been moved out of state.

In an allegation key to the federal charges against them, investigators claim Cox and Barney arranged to buy two unregistered silenced pistols and six hand grenades from the FBI informant. Cox and Barney were arrested shortly afterward, on March 10.

Prosecutors say agents searching a trailer associated with Cox recovered body armor, handcuffs, a gas mask, a semi-automatic, belt-fed machine gun and a fully automatic 9 mm Sten gun. Searching Barney’s home in North Pole, Alaska, agents purportedly seized a 37 mm grenade launcher and tear gas canisters, as well as several guns and about 12,000 rounds of ammunition.

Relying on the alleged gun deal and subsequent searches, federal prosecutors have charged Barney, Cox and Vernon with conspiring to possess unregistered silencers and destructive devices, as well as possession of the same and an unregistered machine gun.

Like Cox, Vernon and his wife Karen Vernon, Barney has also been charged in state court with conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. The Vernons are also accused separately of trying to kill a state judge and his family.

Investigators have described Barney as a member of Cox’s “security team,” and allege he is the “Maj. Barney” described in purported plans to attack a courthouse.

By e-mail, Dooley, Barney’s defense attorney, portrayed his client as a law-abiding taxpayer cut from the mold of the “Alaska self-reliant type.” While he is active politically on gun rights issues, the attorney said he is not affiliated with the Alaska branches of sovereign citizen movement.

Barney, a father of five active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, met Cox through the Second Amendment Task Force and the two struck up a friendship, Dooley said.

“I look forward to his phone calls and meeting him at the jail,” Dooley said via e-mail. “Can't say that about most clients.”

Barney, like the others, remains jailed. Dooley said he continues to dispute all of the allegations made in state court. The other defendants have also pleaded not guilty to the charges; their attorneys either did not return requests for comment or declined to speak on the case.

Washington connection alleged

In Washington, federal authorities claim to have found documents tying several alleged members of the state assemblies movement to Cox.

Searching the Yelm home of purported assemblies member Raymond Jarlik Bell in July, federal agents seized a large volume of documents they say show he was pushing a nonsensical tax-avoidance scheme common in sovereign citizen circles.

Jarlik Bell’s arrest and subsequent indictment are part of an “ongoing investigation into the activities of other members of the Sovereign Assemblies,” an IRS Criminal Investigations Division special agent told the court. Jarlik Bell’s wife, a Mount Vernon accountant and a Redmond man have also been charged in the probe.

Writing the court, IRS agents claim to have found documents confirming Jarlik Bell’s role in the sovereign citizen movement, including documents tying him to Cox.

“Mr. Jarlik-Bell, in his role as a ‘judge’ or ‘minister of justice,’ held a ‘trial’ where Mr. Cox was exonerated from pending charges in Alaska,” the Seattle-based IRS agent told the court, noting that several guns were recovered from the Jarlik-Bell home.

“Based on information received from other law enforcement sources, Jarlik-Bell has been in contact with Cox on numerous occasions recently regarding Cox’s problems with state and federal law enforcement,” another IRS criminal investigator told the court.

“Jarlik Bell has extreme anti-government views, and has threatened law enforcement offices in the past,” she continued. “Jarlik Bell has also told (U.S. Marshals Service deputies) that if he had his firearm during one of his recent traffic stops, he would have shot the officer.”

Court records show Jarlik Bell was recently himself exonerated by a similar “common law” jury.

Filing a civil suit on Jarlik Bell’s behalf, a group of 40 Washington sovereign assemblies members claimed Jarlik Bell had been acquitted following a trial they’d held for him. They group went on to order a federal judge to release Jarlik Bell.

The suit was instead thrown out, and Jarlik Bell remains jailed.

Trial next year

In court, attorneys for Cox and others indicted in Alaska have insinuated their clients were targeted because of their radical beliefs, their affiliations or statements they’ve made publicly.

Responding to the assertions, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Skrocki and Joseph Bottini claimed they’ve handed over 10 terabytes of information – including 130 hours of audio and video presumably taken by the informants or surveillance teams – to the defense that show their clients were prosecuted for crimes, not heated rhetoric or the company they keep.

“This prosecution,” the prosecutors told the court, “is not about protected speech - it is about actionable conduct – the possession of unregistered automatic firearms, destructive devices and silencers.”

State and federal prosecutions continue in Alaska and are expected to go to trial next year. Jarlik Bell and his wife remain under indictment for tax crimes here, while another alleged member of their group, David Myrland, is slated to be sentenced in November for threatening elected officials.